by Matthew Cobb Yesterday The Guardian published two brief letters from religious folk (they don’t appear to be on the website), replying in a religious way to previous articles and letters. Father Alec Mitchell from Manchester wrote: ‘Dark matter is an invisible substance… whose existence can be inferred only by its gravitational pull’ (Cosmic map […]
For some reason that I can’t fathom, it seems like new comments aren’t appearing on the latest “free will” post (or perhaps on other posts). I’ve contacted WordPress, so do not fret if your comment doesn’t show up—you haven’t been banned, and all comments have been saved.
Another fantastic photo (click to enlarge) taken from the International Space Station and appearing yesterday on Commander Chris Hadfield’s Facebook page. I still can’t get over social media in space! His caption: Chicago, a bright spot on the tip of Lake Michigan, glowing through the clouds. h/t: SGM
Had the great director Akira Kurosawa not died in 1998, today would have been his 103rd birthday. In his honor, Hulu is offering 24 of his movies free on streaming video—but only through Sunday. The link is here, and you should watch at least one. My very strong recommendation is Ikiru, in my opinion one […]
I don’t want to bang on about this too long, but the more I look at the TEDx West Hollywood event, the more disturbed I become. As you know, the Rupert Sheldrake and Graham Hancock videos from TEDx Whitechapel were deemed scientifically weak and sequestered to a Site of Bad Science by the TED administrators. […]
by Matthew Cobb The Guardian has just run a competition for brief films on science made by students. The winner was Sally Le Page, a final year biology student at Oxford. She won £9000! Here’s a link to the video, which includes another minute of her chatting about asking her to vote (don’t bother, she […]
by Matthew Cobb Crispian Jago has a blog (not a website) called The Reason Stick. The other day he posted this excellent Venn Diagram of Irrational Nonsense., with four fields: Religious Bollocks, Quackery Bollocks, Pseudoscientific Bollocks and Paranormal Bollocks. At its heart, like a malevolent spider (sorry, spiders!) sits Scientology… Click to enbiggen and find […]
by Greg Mayer I wasn’t able to make Chris Noto’s talk on Cretaceous coastal swamps last night, so I asked him to send me a summary of what he had to say and how the event went. Turtle-Crunching Crocs and Cretaceous Wildfires at the Dinosaur Discovery Museum by Chris Noto First of all, I’d like […]
by Matthew Cobb A couple of weeks back, a chicken in Bijie, a small village in southwest China, laid a massive double-yolk egg which contained ANOTHER EGG. In fact, the chicken (name unknown, owner 87 year-old Granny Yang) has laid a few of these monsters. EGGstraordinary Don’t believe me? Here’s THE PROOF: And if that […]
This is funny but also touching: a tom jumps to a balcony to woo his inamorata, a lovely white cat. I can’t embed it (click on the link( but here’s a screenshot. Trigger warning: there’s a LOT of meowing, and your cat might react if nearby.
